So just a pointer about Sun's Ice. When I said you have to read that first. The reason Sun… blank like Thundercloud was because he looked so much like Adderclaw.

Chapter Three: Blood battle

Shadow sat on her mother's back as they headed up the mountain. The remnant of their meal was still on her mouth as she licked it off. Tiger lie sleeping next to her as Berry slept on Black's back. Lilly and Storm dragged their paws on the ground so they were put on Black's back as well. She yawned and realized that the reason she was tired was just because she had been walking until noon. Tiger woke when they came upon a stream. Shadow jumped off of her mother's back. Tiger stretched and sat up. He began to lap at the stream. Because they hadn't found too much prey along the way, and the fact that they were farther away than the forest, it had taken about a moon or more. She also realized that because of the shortage of prey, they were beginning to slow down. Lilly had slipped off of Black's back to drink from the stream. Shadow wasn't thirsty so she sat down and began to groom herself. Her father's words bugged her. 'Love brings weakness'? Was that the reason why Scourge died? Loving her mother? While she pondered it, Tiger fell in the river and splashed about until she noticed her staring down. He tried to use her as a way to get out and pulled her in with him.

"What the?"

Tiger pushed her head under the water then let her up.

"Oh you think I need mercy?" Shadow asked then put her paw on his head to drag him under. He was to strong and gasped as he came back up.

"Hey, don't leave us out!" Storm yowled as he splashed head first into the water. He batted at her head.

"Down with you Thunderclan!"

She paused. Thunderclan… Fire… She somehow knew a cat with the name of Fire had killed her father. Then she noticed Storm waiting for her to react.

"Oh,yah? Riverclan will not be defeated the forest fools!" She pretended that she was a fierce Riverclan cat. She splashed water into his eyes to blind him then rushed in with outstretched paws to catch him by the head. She then pulled him to the side and pushed him under the water. Tiger jumped on her back. Lilly jumped in to attack to. "Hey no fair!" She said as she let Storm up. "Three against one? That's just not right!"

"Okay, then you can have Tiger. Makes it even." Metallic said by the stream. She was like the manager of the game while Black groomed himself by a bush.

"Hey Tiger! Game plan!" Shadow meowed. "Everyone." She narrowed her eyes at Lilly and Storm as they tried to listen in.

Berry stood at the side of the stream looking at them play. She had a wistful look in her eyes and she tried to ignore it as she was supposed to be a medicine cat. Not much of a fighter.

"Okay so we attack from that side and…" Tiger said.

"do that move father saw the real Riverclan use. Rushpaw splash."

They broke apart and started to move out. Tiger circled around. Storm kept an eye on him and swerved out of the way when Tiger pounced. Lilly ducked underwater and bubbles rose to the surface. Shadow watched the bubbles move. She kept still then jumped when Lilly tried to grab her legs. Then she turned, splashed the water up, rapped her paws around Lilly's tail.

"How could a little kitty be this strong?" Lilly asked as she was flipped out of the water.

"UFF!" Black was drenched with the water that poured off of Lilly. "Watch what you're doing!" He growled.

Shadow then sprang for Storm as Tiger turned around to catch his tail. Storm struggled but with the two of them holding him down he scrambled out of the water.

"Now it's one on one with Tiger and Shadow!" Berry announced as Metallic purred.

Shadow mewed, "You turned traitor eh?"

"What about you? Going rogue against Riverclan."

She circled him tail lashing as she playfully mocked him.

"Hh. And you think a kit could beat me?" He asked.

"Oh? You think a cat could beat the daughter of Scourge?" Shadow countered.

He pounced at her and pinned her down. She noticed that he was shifting his weight onto her and she pushed her hind leg against his to knock him off of her. She floundered in the water as she failed to get up. Then she squirmed and squealed. She soon found her way up and bounded out of the water. "Times!"

Tiger's jaw dropped. "Cheater!"

They began to move again after they dried their fur. Tiger acted like he had won just because she had forfeited the game early to ask if they could keep going. As Shadow moved she cut her paw on the stones and winced. Then in a flash, a battle appeared in front of her. Cats that scented of darkness, water, trees, and wind were fighting a group of cats that wore collars with teeth of cats and dogs on them and smelled of blood. A small black cat sliced through a huge tabby's stomach and watched in cold satisfaction as the tabby died. Then in a flash a ginger tom appeared. For some reason, she felt a huge amount of hate toward him.

"My name if Firestar of Thunderclan."

Firestar.

This cat. Then again a flash and the cat called Firestar stood staring down at the same small black tom with one white paw and icy blue eyes. Her father.

Scourge. That was how he died. This ginger tom is still alive. She growled as the blood disappeared. The reason she knew this was her father was because his stare was cold and full of malice. That was how she knew it when he came to see her even when she couldn't see him yet.

Berry stared at her surprised at her sister's blazing eyes. Shadow continued to walk, even with the sharp pain of the stone in her paw. Berry must have smelled the blood because she barred her path.

"Shadow. Your paw. Give me your paw."

Berry began to examine her paw. She clasped her teeth around the stone and pulled.

Shadow closed her eyes and breathed out. She was not the type to show pain or weakness. Even if she had one.

Berry disappeared to find some herbs and Shadow sat there, her paw outstretched as she waited for her sister's return. Storm pawed at the stone, then, rolled it onto the side with the blood on it. He stared at it blankly. Shadow thought he had lost his sight while he stared then his eyes widened.

"The blood… one of us will die on the day of the eclipse."

Black nodded. "We'll then we must find out the day of the next eclipse."

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO CALM? IT'S IN TWO MOONS!" Storm growled menacingly.

Berry reappeared and laced a thin layer of herb juice on her paw. Shadow didn't wince at all. She just kept her paw off the ground while they continued to walk. Tiger moved to her side.

"Doesn't that hurt?"

"Nope."

"Not even a little?"

"No. My father said to never show pain. It reveals weakness to the cats you shouldn't trust,"

"Well, maybe your father isn't right about all of it." Tiger said.

"Maybe not."

They continued to walk as she kept her paw up. They came to a cave and when they passed the cave the saw the outline of rolling hills. When they reached the hill, Shadow saw a lake with a island that had a tree bridge to cross it. She could smell the clan cats. She began to lick her pelt. She hadn't noticed how lean they had become. Their pelts were sleek and their muscles showed beneath their pelts. Lilly had begun to pant and so had Berry so they were picked up as they raced for the land they would soon know was Thunderclan territory.

They were confronted by the cats of wind.

"They smell like Bloodclan."

"Well, if they do let's chase them off."

"Hey! We don't need trouble. We just need Thunderclan."

"Then we shall escort you."

"We don't need an escort." Black growled.

They began to head for Thunderclan. They confronted a hunting patrol. A bracken colored cat, ginger she-cat, gray tom, brown tabby tom, and a golden furred tom with who looked like a light gray she-cat.

"What are you doing on our territory?"

Ohh, Cliffy! How do ya like that?

'Fool me once, strike one. Fool me twice, strike three.' -Micheal Scott

The vampire queen thanks you

~ Sundapple123